The Champions League semifinals kick off on Tuesday with Manchester City hosting Real Madrid. Los Blancos head to England for the second time this season after Karim Benzema took down Chelsea with a hat trick 3-1. Can he lead his side to another victory?
Bookmaker 10bet has the odds at 2.60 for Benzema to score on Tuesday. Riyad Mahrez and Kevin De Bruyne are considered the likeliest Man City scorers with the odds at 2.20 and 2.30 respectively.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: April 25th, 1:00 P.M. (EST)
With his heroics at Stamford Bridge, Benzema became only the fourth player in Champions League history to score hat tricks in back-to-back games and after notching another one against the Blues in the return leg, the French veteran boasts a whopping seven goals in his last three European appearances.
It’s been a very prolific season for Benzema, and if you have a player in such great form nothing is off the table. His goals have led Real to the cusp of winning another La Liga title and the team also has a great chance to go all the way in the Champions League if the 34-year-old doesn’t cool off.
Benzema will step onto the Etihad pitch having scored 39 goals across 40 games in all competitions. City have a run of four straight clean sheets in Europe and it’s getting a very stern test here.
Pep Guardiola’s men are unbeaten at home for 18 Champions League matches while winning 15 of the outings, but their recent form has left some question marks. City have won only half of their last 10 games and have failed to score three times.
The team is full of world-class talent and they create a lot of chances in every game but there is a lack of cutting edge in front of goal at times and it could prove to be very costly in a knockout stage game. One goal was enough for City to get past Atletico Madrid in the quarterfinals, but considering Benzeman’s form, it’s likely that they will have to score multiple times to take down Real.
It remains to be seen if City are willing to go all-out on the attack straight away in the first leg. It would be a big boost for them to have a multi-goal advantage ahead of the trip to Madrid, but the stakes are high and they might not want to risk everything in the first 90 minutes of action.
